Cannonball Read 11

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Guys, I tried SO HARD

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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I tried SO HARD to read this book. It’s is on everyone’s recommended list, and currently hold as 3.78 rating on Goodreads, which is generally a good sign. I tried reading the hard copy a few months ago when I first became aware of it, and totally failed to get into it. So I tried again to listen to the audio version — I figured I was on a road trip, and would have nothing distracting me. And the audio version has basically the best list of narrators ever (Nick Offerman, Lena Dunham, Davis Sedaris, Ben Stiller?!?). And the synopsis sounded […]

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1/29/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:11 |

Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder.

The Magic Barrel and Other Stories; Elric of Melibone; The Humbling; Joe Gould's Teeth; The Maltese Falcon; How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia; Happy Endings; DA; Fox 8; Snowpiercer; Embroideries; Tinkers by Bernard Malamud; Michael Moorcock; Philip Roth; Jill Lepore; Dashiell Hammett; Mohsin Hamid; Various Authors - Diana Schultz, Mike Mignola, Harvey Pekar et al; Connie Willis; Marjane Satrapi; George Saunders; Jacques Lob and Jean Marc Rochette; Paul Harding

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The Magic Barrel – 5/5 Stars This story collection came out in 1959 and contains the well known title story, but also has several other very good stories. It won the National Book Award as well. As I have previously stated in reviews, the age of the writer (here in a kind of debut effort) lends itself to an already mature and thoughtful work (this was also true for many of Raymond Chandler’s stories as well as the story collection A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley). The result here is  several stories that know what they’re doing and have a […]

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12/28/2018 's CBR10 Review No:483 |

Episode 1-42: The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors

Worst. Person. Ever., Season of the Witch, Lincoln in the Bardo, The Dark Defiles, Desolation Island by Douglas Coupland, Peter Bebergal, George Saunders, Richard K. Morgan, Patrick O'Brian

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Episode 1-42: The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors Wherein I review: 154. Worst. Person. Ever by Douglas Coupland 155. Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll by Peter Bebergal 156. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 157. The Dark Defiles (A Land Fit for Heroes #3) by Richard K. Morgan 158. Desolation Island (Aubrey & Maturin #5) by Patrick O’Brian TRIPLE CANNONBALL ACHIEVED As my regularity falls apart like an Acapulco tourist’s bowel movements, I feverishly exploded across that third times a charm finish line.  Not quite the worst book ever, but it was […]

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11/12/2018 's CBR10 Review No:158 |

Buckle up, Saunders is gonna blow your mind right out of your butt

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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I heard about this book on my beloved podcast, Literary Disco, as they gushed about Saunders, both in general as an acclaimed short form writer, and for this, his debut novel. It tells the real story of the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln’s young son Willie, but veers into the extraordinary as Willie is in a sort of limbo, surrounded by fantastical and verbose ghosts. He is visited by Lincoln in the graveyard, hence the title, and is struggling with whether to stay in this in between place, or move forward to the unknown. I read this in audio format, […]

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6/2/2018 's CBR10 Review No:23 |

This was a book? I read it. I liked it?

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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There’s been a lot of talk about Lincoln in the Bardo over the past 18 months or so. It won a lot of awards, for sure. I finally got it from the library and I read it. And I have no idea, honestly, if I liked it or not. I did? There’s a lot going on here. Abraham Lincoln’s youngest son, Willie, has died and been laid to rest in a cemetery in Georgetown. Lincoln is mad with grief and spends the better part of the night after the funeral sitting in the cemetery, mourning his son. Meanwhile, Willie’s spirit […]

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3/10/2018 's CBR10 Review No:16 |

Experimental af and I loved it

Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders

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When I was home for Christmas, I took the opportunity to extol to my mother the virtues of my local public library and its available online system for ebooks. I demonstrated by showing her my hold list and, as mothers are wont to do, she had comments on several of my selections. My mom is also a vociferous reader and I do greatly value her opinion, but when she described Lincoln In The Bardo as “weird”, she didn’t mean it in a good way and bless her but she was wrong. It’s weird in the best way. Lincoln In The Bardo is […]

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2/12/2018 's CBR10 Review No:14 |

‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ Is a Brilliant Novel, But Is It Good?

'Lincoln in the Bardo' by George Saunders

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Lincoln in the Bardo is an “experimental novel” that actually took home the 2017 Man Booker Prize, and it really is the kind of book that critics would love. It’s brilliantly written. It’s smart, and funny, and it is full of pathos, and the premise is brilliant: Basically, the book grew out of a story that Saunders heard about how Abraham Lincoln would return to the crypt of his son Willie after he died of typhoid fever to hold the body. The book is primarily told from the point of view of a bunch of ghosts. I don’t know exactly […]

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1/12/2018 's CBR10 Review No:5 |

This year’s surprise 5-star book

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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Guys, I am not going to lie. This novel knocked me over in ways I was not expecting. I had resisted reading Lincoln in the Bardo for months, because I was not sure about how good it would actually be. But when it won the Man Booker Prize (still plenty of shade for the committee to open it up to Americans; guys, we DO have the National Book Award, you know), I caved and put in a library hold. The first twenty pages made me SO MAD. I was like, WHY ARE THERE WEIRD NAMES HERE WHAT IS HAPPENING. And […]

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11/4/2017 's CBR9 Review No:130 |


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